Birthday:October 20th 2003Likes:Whipping 360's, being with her people, digging for toys I bury in her digging pit, walking along the marina, sniffing for wee beasties, being brushed, seeing people she knows, training time.Pet-Peeves:Loud noises, old people carrying shopping bags.Favorite Toy:Plush sushi.Favorite Food:Homade turkey meatloaf made just for her.Favorite Walk:Loves running through the grass at Marymoor Off-Leash and walking at Magnuson Off-Leash.Best Tricks:Rings a bell hanging by the door to be let out & rings one hanging outside to come back in.Arrival Story:We were looking for a dog that would be good with our cats and found Saffron listed by Yakima Valley Pet Rescue on Petfinder.com. (Saffron is the first dog for either of us.) She was a stray puppy on the White Swan Reservation and had been eating cat food a woman put out for the neighborhood cats for three months before the woman realized she didn't belong to any of the neighbors. Saffron had spent the winter without shelter. We have since found out from x-rays showing an untreated pelvic fracture, that before Saffron showed up at this woman's house, she had either fallen out of a pick-up or been hit by a car. According to our vet, after she was injured, Saffron most likely lay in a ditch for about three weeks until the bones mended enough for her to walk and she found her way to the cat food. On the Reservation she was at the mercy of the dogs running loose and clearly learned to cope by being very submissive. She was even submissive to the cats. We went to meet her and fell in love. On the drive home back over the mountains we stopped at a rest area to let her go to the bathroom, but she wouldn't get out of the car, she started panicking, and when I got in next to her to calm her down, she buried her head in my lap and closed her eyes. I won't ever know what she really thought we were doing, but it broke our hearts.Bio:Saffron was extremely frightened and very submissive with us. She would give submissive signals if we even glanced at her from across a room. We spent the first two months approaching her with our side facing towards her because facing forwards made her freeze and roll submissively. She finally learned she didn't need to appease us to make everything okay. Because Saffron had essentially been a stray most of her life, she was afraid of almost everything related to humans--noise from the coffee maker, laughing, sneezing, noise from the stereo/tv/computer, car rides, garbage cans out for collection, traffic. Her toys with squeakers scared her. She would pick them up very gingerly and if they squeaked, she'd immediately drop them. We worked hard everyday to help her overcome her fears and her submissiveness. She now loves to squeak her toys and we love hearing it. She has come a long way and now is confident and well adjusted. She still gets frightened sometimes, but recovers pretty quickly. Saffron loves our cats (all cats, for that matter) and they have warmed to her. They will actually call to Saffron to play chase around the house. She is ecstatic when one of our cats lets her lick them and you can tell she's trying hard not to scare them. She'll also bring them her toys and new rawhides to try and pique their interest. She will be in absolute heaven the day Sage decides to curl up with her. Saffron has been such a good dog and I'm amazed at how quickly she catches on to things. We feel so lucky to have found her and I think she is finally realizing that she can count on us to always keep her safe.Forums Motto:I love kitties!The Groups I'm In:♥ Mixed breed fan club ♥, **Mixed Breed Dogs**, ..:: Herding Breeds Association ::.., Me & My BC♥, A Rescued Dog's Group, Alki Beach Dogs, Animal bloggers, Anti-Vick Campaign, Australian Cattle Dogs, Border Barks, Border Collie Mania, Doggie Businesses, Doggy Blogs, Dogs in Washington, Dogs That Own Businesses, Dynomite Mutts, For the love of the chase, Marymoor Mutts, MUST BE THE MUTTS!!!, Mutts R Us, Off Leash Seattle, Puget Sound Pups, Rescued Dogs, Reservation Rescues, Rez Dogs, Seattle Dogs, Specific Information on helping lost/stolen/feral/found/stray cats, The Pound Puppy ProjectThe Last Forum I Posted In:Nationwide (US) March April 28th

Updates

I'm excited about this! I think anyone with a mixed breed and/or rescue can especially related to this story. So, I'm plugging my first interview on my blog. Plug!

It's with Maj. Brian Dennis who is the Marine who adopted a dog, Nubs, in Iraq who had had his ears cut off. This is the dog that tracked Maj. Dennis' squadron 70 miles through open desert over two days when they'd moved to a new location. Dennis arranged to have Nubs sent to the US where he's now living the good life. Neat story.

I recently got to interview Maj. Dennis before he got back to the US from another tour in Iraq, so he hasn't been in the media yet for the new book he co-wrote. Pretty cool!

Here's a recap of the story.
http://petprojectblog.com/archives/dogs/nubs-update- coming/

And here's the interview.
http://petprojectblog.com/archives/dogs/intervie w-with-nubs-human-major-brian-dennis/

I was updating Saffron's profile and realized she not scared of as many things as she used to be. No longer scared of busy traffic or people carrying big things. That's not to say she can get a little stressed by loud traffic, but she's not scared. Yea!

She goes on errands in the car with me now. She's not scared of people she meets. She's still not swimming, but she is wading out much deeper. She's really good about letting me dremel her nails.

After 4 1/2 years, she did her first naughty dog thing concerning food. She stole and ate the contents of a container of cat treats. We've been able to leave open bags of dog food at floor level and she won't bother them. We were actually kind of proud she was naughty and acting like a regular dog.

Cheyenne escaped from the groomer and is missing in Tukwila/Seattle. She is believed to be in the White Center/West Seattle area. Please check her page to see what she looks like and keep your eye out for her.

I have a particular soft spot for her story because she is a soft-tempered, submissive dog like our dog Saffron. Any dog would be scared out on the streets alone, but it would be especially hard for a more timid dog.

It's possible someone has taken her in, so keep your eye out for her walking with people, in someone's backyard, riding in a car, etc. Her people and her dog pal really miss her, especially considering they recently had a dog die from cancer.